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Henry M. Bowden (1819–1871)

Henry M. Bowden represented the city of Norfolk in the Convention of 1867–1868. Born in James City County, Bowden
became a prominent Democrat
in Williamsburg and sergeant at
arms of the Senate of Virginia
early in the 1850s. Often clashing with local Whigs, he opposed secession, a position that provoked
violence against him. During the American
Civil War (1861–1865), Bowden was a Unionist. He freed his slaves and managed what later
became Eastern State
Hospital. After the war he sat in the convention called to write a new state constitution, where he
supported the Radical
Republicans on most issues, such as revamping state government. Following
the convention he served as assessor of internal revenue for Norfolk and represented
the city for a term in the House of
Delegates. MORE...

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Henry Moseley Bowden was born on April 10, 1819, in James City County, the son of
William Bowden and Mildred Davis Bowden, and he grew up on his father's farm near
Williamsburg. As a young man he engaged in farming and built houses. On December 24,
1839, he married Elizabeth A. M. White. After her death he married Esprella Eugenia
Ann Ware on December 23, 1841, and they had one daughter. Sometime after his second
wife's death on April 17, 1850, Bowden was married a third time, to a widow,
Henrietta Susan Stevens Stubblefield. Their one child, George Edwin Bowden, served in the U.S. House of
Representatives.

By the 1850s Bowden and his elder brother Lemuel Jackson Bowden had
become prosperous and influential in Williamsburg, an ascendancy symbolized by Henry
Bowden's construction for Lemuel Bowden of a large, expensive house near Bruton Parish Church.
Intensely partisan Democrats, the brothers were often at odds with Williamsburg's
politically powerful Whigs. Henry Bowden served as sergeant at arms of the Senate of
Virginia during the 1850–1851 and 1852–1853 sessions and helped persuade the General
Assembly to limit the terms of members of the board of the Eastern Asylum, which
sheltered mental patients in Williamsburg. The decision enabled the governor to appoint the first
Democrats to the board, with Lemuel J. Bowden becoming its president in 1851 and
Henry Bowden joining the board in January 1852. Under the new regime Henrietta Bowden
became hospital matron, in charge of female patients, and Henry Bowden joined with
other local Democrats in obtaining profitable contracts to sell food and other
supplies and lease their slaves to the asylum.

Bowden voted for Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, of
Illinois, in the 1860
presidential election and opposed secession in the May 1861 referendum on
that issue. His outspoken contempt for secession provoked some of his neighbors to
violence. Bowden's house was stoned, he was shot at on several occasions, and to
protect himself he sometimes hid in the woods for days at a time. After the Union
army took control of Williamsburg, Bowden became clerk of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in May 1862
and steward a month later. As steward he ran the institution and restored his wife to
the position of matron. Bowden freed his slaves during the summer, but after the
Union army withdrew from the
Peninsula he abandoned his home and property in York County and on August 20, 1862, fled with his
family to the safety of Norfolk, taking with him most of the hospital's food and
supplies. In January 1866 an investigative committee of the General Assembly
concluded that during his wartime management of the asylum Bowden had used or
disposed of the hospital's money and foodstuffs without an adequate accounting and
improperly kept possession of the institution's mutilated records. The assembly took
no action against him.

Bowden worked initially as a corder of wood and
financial agent under the appointment of Union general Benjamin F. Butler after moving to Norfolk. In June
1863 Bowden became clerk of the city's hustings and corporation court. He attended a
convention of more than 300 Republicans at Richmond's First African Baptist Church on April 17, 1867, to plan campaign strategy
for the election of delegates to the upcoming state constitutional convention. On
October 22, 1867, he was elected to represent the city of Norfolk along with Thomas Bayne, who became the most
powerful black delegate to the convention. Bowden received 1,815 votes from African
Americans but only 62 from whites, many of whom refused to vote. He served on the
Committee on Internal Improvements and chaired the Committee on County and
Corporation Courts and County Organizations. The latter committee introduced
proposals embodied in Articles VI and VII of the Constitution of 1869, which replaced
the antebellum local government structure with a popularly elected democratic system
modeled on New England town government. Bowden also helped end the sometimes abusive
debates on whether oysters could be taxed while tobacco was not by introducing a
compromise resolution that became Section 2 of Article X, which exempted from
taxation the harvesting of oysters from natural beds but permitted the taxation of
oysters sold commercially. He sided with the Radicals on most roll calls before the
final vote on the constitution, which he missed.

Bowden served by military appointment in 1869 as
a commissioner in chancery for the Norfolk City Hustings Court, and in December 1870
President Ulysses S. Grant
appointed him assessor of internal revenue for the Norfolk district. On July 6, 1869,
Bowden headed the poll in a six-way race for Norfolk's two seats in the House of
Delegates. He served on the Committees on Finance and on Resolutions in the assembly
sessions that convened in October 1869 and December 1870 and on the Committee on
Immigration in December 1870. Bowden died aboard a train in Isle of Wight County on April 11, 1871, a few
days after the assembly adjourned, and was buried in Norfolk.

Time Line

April 10, 1819
- Henry Bowden is born in James City County to William Bowden and Mildred Davis Bowden.

December 24, 1839
- Henry Bowden and Elizabeth A. M. White marry.

December 23, 1841
- Henry Bowden, a widower, and Esprella Eugenia Ann Ware marry. They will have one daughter.

1850–1851
- Henry Bowden serves as sergeant at arms of the Senate of Virginia.

April 17, 1850
- Esprella Ware Bowden, wife of Henry Bowden, dies.

After April 17, 1850
- Sometime after the death of his second wife, Henry Bowden marries Henrietta Susan Stevens Stubblefield. They will have one son.

1852–1853
- Henry Bowden serves as sergeant at arms of the Senate of Virginia.

January 1852
- Henry Bowden joins the board of the Eastern Asylum, in Williamsburg.

January 1866
- An investigative committee of the General Assembly concludes that during his wartime management of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum, Henry Bowden used or disposed of the hospital's money and foodstuffs without an adequate accounting and improperly kept possession of the institution's records. The committee takes no action against Bowden.

April 17, 1867
- More than 300 Republicans convene at Richmond's First African Baptist Church to plan campaign strategy for the election of delegates to the upcoming state constitutional convention.

October 22, 1867
- Thomas Bayne and Henry Bowden are elected to represent the city of Norfolk in the upcoming state constitutional convention.

December 3, 1867–April 17, 1868
- Henry Bowden, a representative from the city of Norfolk to the constitutional convention, serves on the Committee on Internal Improvements and chairs the Committee on County and Corporation Courts and County Organizations.

1869
- Henry Bowden serves by military appointment as a commissioner in chancery for the Norfolk City Hustings Court.

July 6, 1869
- Henry Bowden is elected to one of Norfolk's two seats in the House of Delegates.

October 1869
- In the General Assembly session that convenes this month, Henry Bowden, delegate from the city of Norfolk, serves on the committees on Finance and on Resolutions.

December 1870
- In the General Assembly session that convenes this month, Henry Bowden, delegate from the city of Norfolk, serves on the committees on Finance, on Resolutions, and on Immigration.